NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah McLachlan’s first album in over a decade was supposed to be her last.
At least, it felt that way to her for a short while. Out Friday, the release, titled “Better Broken,” has been many years in the making. “It had been so long since I’d made a record,” she told The Associated Press. “I kind of thought, maybe this is my last one.” But working with a new team of collaborators reignited her enthusiasm for music discovery in the studio. These 11 tracks are the result — but they’re not a swan song.
“Some of these songs are 14 years old. Some of them were written last year,” she said. “I was a dance mom for a bunch of years, and I was also the principal fundraiser for my music schools … Music took a backseat. So that’s why it took 11 years.”
Now, music has clutched the steering wheel. In November, she’ll tour “Better Broken” across nine U.S. cities, beginning in Washington on Nov. 16 at The Anthem and ending Nov. 29 at Los Angeles’ The Orpheum Theatre. She’ll hit Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco as well. General ticket sales begin Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. local time.
“Music is very healing, and it has healed me over and over and over again,” she said. With the “Better Broken” album and tour, she hopes her music can heal listeners, too, “in some small way. I hope it can lift them and connect them to their emotional worlds.”
In an interview with the AP, McLachlan discussed her new album, a forthcoming Lilith Fair documentary and yes, that ASPCA commercial.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
AP: What’s the process of revisiting older material? Did it feel relevant to who you are — still?
MCLACHLAN: ‘Better Broken’ is the oldest song. And it actually became the title track for the record as well, just because of that sentiment of resiliency, and reclamation of self, and picking up the pieces after things fall apart and rebuilding yourself. You know, figuring out a new way forward, which seemed like a great, sort of recurring theme on the record.
AP: There’s a sense of hope that exists throughout the album.
MCLACHLAN: I’m glad to hear you say that because I don’t have a lot of objectivity about it. I mean, I feel hopeful after hearing it, even though there’s some more heavy and intense subject matter. For me, music has always been this beautiful outlet, this therapy. It’s so cathartic to write and be able to find a place to put it. I feel so much better after it. It’s like medicine. So, I hope there’s some hope in it.
AP: I hear it in songs like “Rise,” and the line about a woman’s right to choose. It makes me wonder: Is this an exercise in humanity, or are you naturally an optimistic person?
MCLACHLAN: I’m very optimistic. That optimism has been challenged a lot lately. But I believe in humanity. I believe in the good in people. And I believe in continuing to seek out the good in people. And I think if you stay open and curious in that manner, I think there’s a lot of positive shifts that can continue to happen.
AP: In addition to a new album and tour, you founded the legendary, all-women ‘90s festival Lilith Fair. A new documentary “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story” details the tour. Several decades on, how do you view Lilith Fair’s legacy?
MCLACHLAN: We changed attitudes within the music business. We dispelled any myth that you can’t put two women back-to-back on the radio or on stage. Clearly, we got rid of that idea. I think we created an amazing community for us, as women in the music business. I think we helped to create a safe space for fans.
And to show that when you lift each other up instead of tear each other down, you can create something beautiful. I think that’s a really lasting legacy. And I think a really important message, perhaps even more important today.
And now I look at, you know, artists like Brandi Carlile, who are constantly championing women. Or Taylor Swift having women open up for her — Phoebe Bridgers and Boygenius and there are all these bands that, you know, are working together and supporting other women. I love that, and I feel like maybe we had a small hand in that.
AP: What would it take to revive Lilith Fair for the current moment? Could it exist in 2025?
MCLACHLAN: I think it could. I think it’d be very dangerous. I think we’d have a target on our backs. And I think it would need to look different.
It would need to be championed by someone who was coming up today. …. It needs some youthful energy.
AP: In addition to Lilith Fair, for a certain population, you are inextricably connected to the ASPCA for its continued use of your song “Angel” in their commercials. What do you make of that reputation?
MCLACHLAN: I’m grateful I did it. … But that’s my song. I retain ownership of that song. But yeah, I’m definitely aware that it brought me to a whole new fan base and changed the face of fundraising.
AP: I wonder if people think of you as saintly.
MCLACHLAN: I try and dispel any weirdness about that stuff. I’m just a normal person with a crazy job who has opportunities like that come across her desk. And, you know, I like feeling purposeful. I like being of service. It makes me feel good to think that I’m using my platform to do something good.
AP: “Angel” is almost 30 years old. Has your relationship to it changed?
MCLACHLAN: I think because of the many associations, not just the ASPCA, but I’ve had so many people over the years tell me really intense stories about that song helping them through the loss of a parent, the loss of a child, contemplating suicide, pulling them back from the edge. And it is really intense periods in people’s lives where my music has been a part of it. And it’s helped them in some small way. So, for me, again, that’s the best validation in the world as an artist.
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